Monday, February 22, 2010

happy birthday, sara and jinmin!

Today (Monday) is my friend Sara's birthday, and Saturday is my friend (and her apt mate) Jinmin's birthday! In addition to going to univ together, living in the same complex, and being straight up fabuluuuzz, we all teach Sunday School at a Korean church nearby along with some of our friends. In celebration, we teachers decided to bring her a cake. I used Dorie's Perfect Party Cake for the cake, a mango custard for the filling, and some sugar glass on top. Then I baked a Funfetti cake (in the background below) just in case there wasn't enough to go around.

Oh, hay, Juno.

Sugar glass, or candy glass, is really simple to make. Simmer plain granulated sugar with a little bit of water until you get a golden syrup, put out some parchment paper, and drizzle away with a fork or wooden spoon. For the little dome in the middle, I used the bottom of a tiny glass cup. Pretty cool, eh? After the syrup cools (about an hour), you can peel the pieces off and go wild. But make sure you don't refrigerate the glass or it'll absorb moisture and get sticky.

In retrospect, I think the cake would have been prettier if perhaps I'd surrounded the sugar dome with fresh fruit, but I was running low on time! Eeek. Flipping the dome over and nestling some fruit inside of it would've been neat too. But it's the thought that counts, right? I love Sara and Jinmin... They're two amazing gals and I'm lucky to have them in my life!

A few weeks ago, I retried my hand at making challah. Thanks to Eunice for taking the photos! I lub her.

I think it turned out a lot better than the first time. A deeper and more even color on the outside, more complex flavor thanks to a 6-hour preferment, and a better braid. I decorated the loaf with some flax seeds, since I didn't have the more typical sesame seeds. I used Peter Reinhardt's recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice, which you can find all over the web. I'd repost it here, but I should really get to studying :)

Once again, happy bday to you special ladies!

T

P.S. Shout out to Sara's chingoo marina! Yeah, you! HAHAH I'm glad you like the blog!

sey - thank you!! it was slightly dangerous at one point but that was my fault. i picked up a really thin shard of the candy and tried to eat it too quickly-- the fine point ended up piercing my lip o_0 yikes!

christy- gracias :) i miss you so much!! i've been loving your entries. i'm glad you write regularly. now if only i could comment more regularly!! apologies

So I wanted to leave you a comment on FB about how it went, but couldn't find you on FB. Did you deactivate? Anywho, I made Shrimp nachos and bruschetta and they were a hit!!! EVERYONE liked them, and my shrimp nachos went FAST. Thanks for the recipe!

hey, maddie!! yeah, i deactivated fb.. i waste so much time on that site haha. i'm glad the food worked out :) you should def try the other recipes in the future for whatever reason. the ones i tried were so yummy~